Daily Devotional by Max Lucado
“the One who came still comes and the One who spoke still speaks”
August 26
Ask and Believe
“If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”
Matthew 21:22 (NCV)
“If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”
Don’t reduce this grand statement to the category of new cars and paychecks. Don’t limit the promise of this passage to the selfish pool of perks and favors. The fruit God assures is far greater than earthly wealth. His dreams are much greater than promotions and proposals.
God wants you to fly. He wants you to fly free of yesterday’s guilt. He wants you to fly free of today’s fears. He wants you to fly free of tomorrow’s grave. Sin, fear, and death. These are the mountains he has moved. These are the prayers he will answer. That is the fruit he will grant. This is what he longs to do.
2 Timothy 3
Godlessness in the Last Days
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
Paul's Charge to Timothy
10You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
John 13:31-35
Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial
31When he was gone, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. 32If God is glorified in him,[a] God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33"My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
August 26, 2008
The King’s Colors
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READ: John 13:31-35
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. —John 13:35
In Thailand, the people greatly love and admire King Bhumibol (Rama IX), who has led them for over 60 years. To display their respect for the king, the Thai people wear bright yellow shirts every Monday, because yellow is the official color of the king.
As we seek to live for our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, we should also show our colors of allegiance and appreciation for all He has done for us. But how? What are the “colors” that declare to the world that we serve the King of kings and Lord of lords?
The night before His crucifixion, King Jesus told us what our “colors” should be when He said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). His disciple John echoed this when he wrote, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).
When we display Christ’s love for our fellow believers, it is more than just kindness or care. It is one of the most tangible ways we can show our love and devotion for the Savior.
As we interact with fellow Christ-followers, let’s be sure to show our colors. That will honor our King before a watching world. — Bill Crowder
Teach me to love as Thou dost love,
And let the whole world know
That Jesus Christ lives in my heart,
His glorious light to show. —Brandt
Our love for God shows in our love for others.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
August 26, 2008
Are You Ever Troubled?
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READ:
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you . . . —John 14:27
There are times in our lives when our peace is based simply on our own ignorance. But when we are awakened to the realities of life, true inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus. When our Lord speaks peace, He creates peace, because the words that He speaks are always "spirit, and they are life" ( John 6:63 ). Have I ever received what Jesus speaks? ". . . My peace I give to you. . ."— a peace that comes from looking into His face and fully understanding and receiving His quiet contentment.
Are you severely troubled right now? Are you afraid and confused by the waves and the turbulence God sovereignly allows to enter your life? Have you left no stone of your faith unturned, yet still not found any well of peace, joy, or comfort? Does your life seem completely barren to you? Then look up and receive the quiet contentment of the Lord Jesus. Reflecting His peace is proof that you are right with God, because you are exhibiting the freedom to turn your mind to Him. If you are not right with God, you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself. Allowing anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you either causes you to become troubled or gives you a false sense of security.
With regard to the problem that is pressing in on you right now, are you "looking unto Jesus" ( Hebrews 12:2 ) and receiving peace from Him? If so, He will be a gracious blessing of peace exhibited in and through you. But if you only try to worry your way out of the problem, you destroy His effectiveness in you, and you deserve whatever you get. We become troubled because we have not been taking Him into account. When a person confers with Jesus Christ, the confusion stops, because there is no confusion in Him. Lay everything out before Him, and when you are faced with difficulty, bereavement, and sorrow, listen to Him say, "Let not your heart be troubled . . ." ( John 14:27 ).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Fool's Gold - #5642 - August 26, 2008
Category: Your Personal Power
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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My outreach trips to South Africa have been with some wonderful ministry experiences. We saw African young people coming to Christ. We had the privilege of training South African youth workers to reach lost young people. And we're even training people to reach the lost and the young through radio. One afternoon we were able to sneak away long enough to visit one of the gold mines that helped make South Africa the richest country on that continent. Years ago this was the largest and richest gold mine in the world. Today, an old miner take guys like me, puts a helmet on them, gives them a light, and takes them on tours. It was fascinating to hear him describe how gold was uncovered and then extracted from deep inside the earth. At one point, he asked us to shine our light on one wall of the mine, and it sparkled with this bright, yellow gold! It was amazing - beautiful! The old miner told us, "Don't get too excited." He said, "Real gold is black. It doesn't even look like gold. That stuff that glitters, well, that's just fool's gold.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fool's Gold."
It's "values clarification time," with the help of our word for today from the Word of God. 1 Timothy 6:8, "If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich (that's the people who go after the stuff that glitters) fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
It's so easy to buy the values of a world that measures worth by success, by how much of the glittery stuff you have - to spend major life-energy going after more house, more car, more wardrobe, more position, more prestige. It's gold - but it's fool's gold. Notice the words God uses to describe the pursuit of more: a trap, foolish desires, harmful desires, ruin and destruction, wandering from the faith, grief. The foolishness of all this is summed up in two words God uses to describe security that is based on earth-stuff "so uncertain." That's what He calls it in 1 Timothy 6:17.
So God reveals the scam - what looks so valuable is so worthless, and the spiritual riches that may look so worthless are so valuable. Like fool's gold and real gold. The chapter goes on to describe the real gold. "But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." Don't look for those on the Dow-Jones, but they are so much more precious than anything you'll find there and certainly a lot more lasting.
God says when you live your life to give instead of get, you will be one of those who "lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life" (1 Timothy 6:19) or the gold that is really gold.
Take a moment for a priority check - not about what you believe, but about how you're spending your life. Honestly now, is most of the best of your life tied up in going after fool's gold? Do you even have much energy, much time, much resource left to pursue the gold of what will last for eternity like getting to know Jesus better, getting people to heaven with you, showing Jesus' love to people who really need it, absorbing God's Word? It's time to live for what will last.
With whatever years you have left, go where the real gold is. The stuff that glitters is what most of the people around you are going for. But remember, it's just fool's gold.
